Typhon's nature

Lee Berman · 12 Oct 2011, 16:17 · from 2011-October.txt.gz

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From: severiansola at hotmail.com (Lee Berman)
Date: Wed, 12 Oct 2011 12:17:35 -0400
Subject: (urth) Typhon's nature
Message-ID: <SNT123-W62B6917BFC5C0A589A0CFACFE30 at phx.gbl>

> Does the multi-head/multi-limb aspect of the Neighbors reflect a tree origin?    

>Marc Aramini: 

>In my opinion, yes, and it also symbolically represents the doubled genetic 
>nature of a hybrid strain (corn genetics in the first chapter of OBW and 
>hybridization linked to the condition of Blue - ad nauseum!  Both symbolic of 
>Silk-Horn and the neighbors as hybrids more suited to the harsh environment).  
>Note how MAD the neighbors get when a guy with an ax goes into the forest.  
>why?  It's mother tree he's going to cut down.

Yes. The pieces fit together.

>Say it ain't so, Lee.  Not the dreaded Inire is everybody theory because inire has 
>an r and an e and so does everybody, and if you spell venial-body and connect it to 
>Inire you can spell everybody.  NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.

Heh, funny! Actually I agree with you that Borski's 20 pages of Solar Labyrinth 
"onomastics" where he connects every name in BotNS with every other name to be a 
ridiculous waste of paper. But I do consider Borski to be a very intelligent guy whose 
thoughts are worth paying attention to. (what Borski is not intelligent enough to do is 
"solve" Gene Wolfe's work all by himself. IMHO, his major errors all stem from his refusal 
to consult with anyone but himself in developing his ideas.)

Much discussion has been devoted to this topic over the past years, so I'll just try to 
summarize why I am open to the idea that Father Inire is "everybody" or at least quite
a few different characters.

1. We never openly see the Father Inire character in the action. This must have a literary
purpose. It might be to hint that he is actually seen all over the place.

2. I think the text presents the (old) Autarch and his actions and devices to be a pale echo 
of Father Inire's. Conversely I think the text presents Father Inire and his devices to be a 
pale echo of those used by Tzadkiel. We are shown the old Autarch playing a few different roles
with minimal changes in his appearance. We are shown Tzadkiel playing a number of different
roles with drastic changes in appearance. I find it logical that Father Inire conducts 
himself in a similar fashion at a level somewhere in between those two.

3. I think the origin/significance of Father Inire's name must be important. I'll ignore the
"Father" part for now though it is important.  The Latin verb "inire" meaning 'sexual entrance"
is derived from Inuus, an epithet of the god Faunus/Pan.  One of mythological Pan's tricks was
to multiply himself into a small horde of copies who could each independently conduct various
aspects of Pan's desires and goals.

4. Long Sun rather pointedly suggests Pan as an origin for the name of Pas.  Short Sun pointedly
references The Outsider as being associated with Dionysus, a god associated with Pan (not to 
mention the Celtic "Green Man" and various other pre/alt.-christian deities).

These four points are enough for me to at least consider the possibility that Father Inire is a 
character who can be found appearing throughout this story. This constant involvement/interference
with human beings is what we might expect a pagan god to do in a non-Judeo-Christian universe, 
which is what I think Briah is.

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